A 24-foot-tall ‘Theyyam’ inspired portrait of Kerala artist ‘Da Vinci’ Suresh, made of cookies and other sweets, was shown at a bakery in Kannur.
It took more than 25,000 biscuits to make a 24-foot-tall picture theyyam. Artist ‘Da Vinci’ Suresh, who is on a mission to create 100 portraits using non-traditional art material, created the artwork for Bake Story Live Bakery in Kannur. This is his 79th painting.
After 15 hours of work, which included putting the table together, drawing, sorting and stacking the cookies, Suresh completed the picture, which captures an incredibly subtle face theyyam.
NS Mukhathezhuthu (face painting) theyyamA traditional art form that originated in the Malabar region of Kerala, it is extremely complex. “I had to accurately recreate each line and curve. I had to do research to fix the pattern on the head gear and the face,” says Suresh. The sketching took two to three hours. Then sorted the confectioners according to colour, size and shape. “The initial idea was to just use cookies made in the bakery. But the artist gets bread, buns, dry fruits, puffed rice, puffed rice, Syrup field rings And A type of sweet to capture the complexity of Mukhathezhuthusays cookbook author and bakery chef consultant Rashid Muhammad, who conceived the idea.
Different Thinking
The bakery had organized a week-long celebration to mark its second anniversary in July this year, showcasing 150 types of traditional handmade biscuits. The cookies sold in the bakery are made by a family of bakers in Faridabad.
“The idea was to create awareness and appreciation for their diverse traditions of making sweets in a creative way,” says Rasheed. He further added that the cookies in the picture were sent to a veterinary farm for recycling. “The cookies get wet after being out in the open for 15 hours, and we didn’t want it to go to waste,” says Rasheed.
For artist Suresh, who has created photographic portraits of celebrities and national heroes with everything from nails to gold jewelry, the creative process often involved manual labor.
For example, his 80th and most recent portrait was of Mahatma Gandhi: he created it on the Kerala University campus in Thiruvananthapuram using over a million inflated balloons. The 182 ft installation required over 100 people to install it. “But it’s a labor of love,” he says.
Most of his drawings are installations – he did a 3D installation of Messi after the Copa America victory for a sports shop in Mathilakam in Kodungallur. The 25-foot work was done using football jerseys, boots and other sports gear. “When you’re recreating people’s faces with the material, your options for colors are limited. You have to make do with what you have. If the location of an object in the picture changes, the person’s face changes. goes,” says Suresh.
He adds, “I don’t know how to explain my process, but I started painting hoardings and I get my experience from there. The point of doing these kind of portraits is that there is no rehearsal or do-it-yourselfer. Over doesn’t happen. You just go with the flow.”
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